Knowledge Claims (KCs) and Knowledge Questions (KQs)

Knowledge Claims (KCs)

- It is an assertion that something is the case

- It can be either true or false
- It can be a fact or information, belief or opinion

Knowledge claims can be based upon:

- senses (statements of personal judgement) - “I know I am wearing black trousers.”

- individual values (value judgements) - “I know that ToK is boring.”

- observations of other people (shared knowledge) - “I know that human skeleton of an adult
consists of 206 bones”.

- observing patterns and drawing a conclusion (predictive value) - “I know that tomorrow the sun
will rise in the east and set in the west.”

- hypothetical statements, based on previous observations of causal relationships -”If it rains on

Saturday the concert will be canceled.”

- metaphysical statements, stating a reality outside of the material world - “Evil does not exist.”

- definitional claims, where the meaning of the key term may be disputed - “Chess is a sport.”
1st-order claims - about the world (“human skeleton of an adult consists of 206 bones”)

2nd-order claims - about knowledge itself (“knowledge of human anatomy is very extensive and
accurate”)
Knowledge Questions (KQs)

“A knowledge question is a general open-ended question concerning

knowledge/knowing”.

- it is explicitly “about knowledge/knowing” (2nd-order question) –

while 1st-order questions arise within a specific subject,
2nd-order questions are about
the subject; example:
1st-order: Is universe expanding?
HOW DO WE KNOW...?
2nd-order: How reliable is our scientific knowledge?

- it is general – (not subject specific) – doesn't examine specific examples but underlying principles
- it is open-ended (contested)– accepts more than one possible answer, requires personal thought and
judgement
- it is often comparative – can be examined in relation to different ways of knowing/areas of knowledge

- it is expressed using “ToK vocabulary, ideas or concepts”

 Areas of Knowledge
Ways of Knowing
concepts – certainty (How certain is it...?)
truth (To what extent is it true...?)
value (How important is it...?)
meaning (What does it mean...?)
perspective (What other views...?)
limitations (What are the limitations of...?)
reliability (How reliable is...?),
validity, (How valid is...?) etc.

Some KQs:

- To what extent our ethical judgement depends on reason and emotion?

- Is it possible for historical writing to be free from perspective?

- Is the aesthetic value of an artwork purely a subjective matter?

- To what extent does language shape thought and behaviour?

- What are the limits of statistics in the human sciences?

- How far is intuition used in maths?

- Is it possible to experience an emotion that cannot be expressed in words?